As mentioned previously; we were thrilled to score an end-of-the-row parking spot. Always ready access to the door, easy to "swoop in & out", nobody to worry about on one side.
"Should I have any concerns about people backing into my trailer on a end spot?" I asked the yard owner. "Nah" he said, "Nobody has ever had that problem...look at how wide the aisles are!". It does seem like there's plenty of room to maneuver around the corner...even for a large RV!
Yep...you'd have to be a real idiot to have trouble getting around this corner...
but wait?!? What's that mark on the front corner of our trailer?
Oh man...someone did cut the corner & clipped our trailer! Did a right good job of tearing off the corner trim & even threw in cracking off the corner of the sidewall for good measure! Of course, no note owning up to the deed or mention of this to the storage yard owner. Guess they figured leaving this torn open to the inside of the wall for a month or so during the rainy season wouldn't hurt anything...NOT! Someone suggested they may not have realized they did it...possible I suppose, but you'd think since they hit me with the driver's side of their rig they could just look in the mirror. And judging by the parts of their RV I found on the ground it must have at least made a noise if not a bump!
At least they didn't crack the front cap. The parts they left behind - a broken baggage door catch & pieces of a running light lens - would make good evidence. Both myself & the yard owner walked through the place looking for someone with fresh damage in that area - no luck. They could be on vacation or hiding the evidence under one of the many rigs with covers. Estimates so far are about $500 to replace the trim on both sides (so they match). Unfortunately, my insurance deductible is...$500
Ack! I spoke too soon! On the way to the repair shop I stopped at home to wash it & get a good look at the damage..and noticed this!
I didn't notice the crack before because A) it's way up towards the roof, B) dirt was hiding it, or C) the crack was a stress fracture released during the trip home.
You can barely see it just above the marker light...
After Curtis pulled off the corner trim you can see the crack is very near one of the mounting screws. To me this lends weight to the stress theory.
The corner of the sidewall was also cracked. Look at how thick that front cap is...must have been a pretty good wallop to crack it!
Curtis did a fine job repairing the damage. They had to completely replace the front cap as repairs to this material often fail, and I don't want to be dealing with this later!
They sublet the sidewall repairs to a body shop,
They even improved on the factory fit with the new corner trim on the road side...there was a slight inward bow on this side which always bugged me. Straight as an arrow now!
Curtis even ordered a new logo decal for the front. Total repair cost = $3,900 all said & done. Pretty nice little gift from my anonymous yard mate!
Just to make sure some dipshit doesn't repeat this exercise I bought some screaming Orange cones to mark both ends of the trailer.
It may look stupid but I frankly don't care if it's gonna cost me $500 every time someone cuts the corner!
I know it won't prevent anyone from hitting the trailer, but maybe it will cause them to think about it!
You'd have to be blind to miss those cones...on the other hand, I've seen some of the people who store their rigs here. Impaired eyesight might be the least of their worries...
